Articles Archives - Page 23 of 42

Bodmin, Padstow and Rock: making good food Cornwall’s bread and butter

My latest article on Beacon focuses on three towns in nothern Cornwall: Bodmin, Padstow and Rock. Padstow and Rock have become known for their good food and the associated tourism that brings, through restaurants such as Rick Stein’s and Nathan Outlaw’s. Now, Bodmin wants to follow suit.

I wrote about Bodmin just over a year ago for the Guardian; for Beacon I caught up with the councillor who showed me around Bodmin’s Beacon technology park (no relation) and the town’s economic progress. Cornwall Council has decided to build new offices in Bodmin, and BT may use some of the space for its joint-venture with the county’s state sector. Continue reading “Bodmin, Padstow and Rock: making good food Cornwall’s bread and butter”

Why Britain might love its socialised healthcare to death

The National Health Service combines local heritage, British fair play and free, good-quality healthcare with the employment of more than one million people in England alone. That gives the NHS enormous popularity – and also makes it very difficult to reform.

Originally published on Beacon.

Continue reading “Why Britain might love its socialised healthcare to death”

Aberdeen’s NHS centre for Guardian; its views on referendum for Beacon

Two articles on Aberdeen, one for the Guardian’s Society section, one kicking off my Ends of Britain series on Beacon. The Guardian piece focuses on the Aberdeen health village, a newly-opened NHS Grampian centre in the city centre. It’s of interest because it is the first to be funded by the Scottish Futures Trust, Scotland’s antidote to PFI funding. The detail is in the article, but essentially the public sector is involved on both the customer and supplier sides. Continue reading “Aberdeen’s NHS centre for Guardian; its views on referendum for Beacon”

Made it! The Ends of Britain starts later this week on Beacon

Thank you to everyone who has supported me to start The Ends of Britain series on the future of the UK on Beacon. With 25 backers and $463 pledged – including five subscribers in for a full year – it’s going ahead.

If you are one of those who backed me, you should receive an email from Beacon saying it’s all on. You should also get access to everything published on Beacon. I plan to blog here about some of the other writers on the service soon, although it’s easy to explore.

And it’s not too late to subscribe for the first article in The Ends of Britain series later this week – you can do so here.

Again, thank you!

Help me write about the future of Britain on Beacon

In 2014, I am planning something new: a series of weekly articles about Britain and how it is run, in the year that might see Scots voting to end the country in its current form, and certainly sees the UK struggling to decide what sort of country it plans to become.

The name I’ve given this project is The Ends of Britain. That’s as in a posssible ending through Scottish independence, but also ‘ends’ as in purposes, and also out-of-the-way parts of the country (places I always like to write about). Continue reading “Help me write about the future of Britain on Beacon”